Yesterday night didn´t end with movies and popcorn. The habitat became a forum for discussion and opinion where the seven crew members tried to describe the observable universe in all its facets. The conversation went from mysticism to modern physics and then to biology and genetics to end up trying to describe the nature of humanity. Apparently one third of the earth’s gravity has caused the crew’s ideas to fly better.

Today our Sun 4 started ten minutes earlier, 7:13 in the morning and the mats were already on the ground floor of our new home so that our XO made us wake up to the rhythm of 128 bpm as soundtrack.

Two of our Mars mission experiments require soil samples so four crew members went out to collect more than ten kilograms of Martian soil at the same time that our crew scientist tested parts of his space suit made on Earth in the best laboratories of the world and by his own hands. EVA successful, the ziplock bags are almost over.

Commander and journalist visited the solar observatory to find sunspots and some small coronal mass ejections. Who would have thought that the orange circle we see in our telescope would give life to our home millions of years ago but at the same time it seem so insignificant in the vast universe among other billions of stars bigger, smaller, hot or cold.

To summarize our feeling with breakfast, lunch and dinner we can say that we had never before enjoyed healthy food and those little details like a hot chocolate with marshmallows or a homemade bread after a full day of work. The Porg seems happy stealing part of our food ration, luckily our rocket contained enough provisions.

The day concludes with many ideas. Everyone knows their situation, their country of origin and their environment, but if there is one thing we are sure is that borders, titles and names often distance the true success of humanity. And as a clear example, we are here today in red lands representing and speaking for Latin America when nobody ever imagined that it would be possible.

Tomorrow in our Sun 5 a full day of research awaits for us to continue work in our projects although we certainly expect Martian cake.

Narrative: Today I had my second EVA on Mars, where I collected the Martian soil for my project. Also I have finished to assemble the lysimeter, tomorrow I hope to transplant the quinoa that Atila started to grow.

It was amazing to share with all the crew in the greenhab, during the irrigation time, it made this activity easier.

The cucumbler plants look better today and there is not plants wilted.

Purpose of EVA: Collecting regolith samples for use on science projects (15kg, Atila and David)

Participants: Atila, David, Luis, and Oscar

Narrative: Today’s EVA was fortunately a short one, the most time you spend out in Mars, the most risk you have of suffering an incident, and safety comes first, despite of the always breathtaking views that you get. All the goals of the EVA were successfully attained. On a particular note, the excursion leader, Oscar, used the flexible segment of the Condor Space Suit Simulator, in combination with the Exo Suit. The requested EVA window was of two hours, with previous knowledge that it would last under an hour, planning for possible issues arising. At 9:15 the crewmembers started getting ready in the lower deck, donning the flight suits, as well as the accessories, such as radios and snoopy caps, the required elements for the activity were taken, mainly consisting of sealable bags, 3 shovels, and a bucket. Afterwards the crew proceeded to decompression protocols in the airlock, egressing the Habitat main door at 9:51. The crew proceeded to walk towards the base of Overlook Ridge, on its Northeast segment, where 10 full bags of regolith were collected, as well as a full bucket, all containing around 16kg of soil samples. The samples were then moved to the side of the hab, and after requesting permission, moved into the airlock. The crew sustained depressurization procedures, and then proceeded to doffing.

Our sol today started at 07:13 with relaxing exercises. The Martian cooker, Oscar, did a great job today, the health of the crew is in good hands. Several days have passed in Mars and now everyone is working on their projects. The EVA of the day was conformed by David, Atila, Luis and Oscar; the Martian place of the EVA was Overlook Reach, where Oscar could test his space suit, called Condor, which was building by himself with the cooperation of the Colombia air force. In addition, David and Atila could collect some samples for their projects.

Furthermore, at 12:13, Tania and I started to work in the Musk Solar Observatory, the view of the sun from Mars is so amazing.

As lunch, we ate a magic food, that since the moment it was over we were already waiting for the dinner. In the afternoon, we spent a great time together talking about our experience, backgrounds, how the issue of the space is going on in Latinamerica. Now we are family… a Martian family!

At 14:00 a group of person from Earth arrived to our Hab to give us hot water, the days will be warmer… Thanks Earth for it!

By 17:30, all the crew went to the Greenhab to work in there. It’s awesome how you can do incredible things in a new planet working together. Every Martian helps each other in their project and collaborate to build a fantastic atmosphere in the Hab.

This day was a relaxing day after busy ones in Mars. After the capCom, Danton will teach us how to act in case of emergence. In case of an accident in Mars, will be known how to act!

Look Ahead Plan:

Tomorrow will be a science day in Mars, every Martian will work in their own project. Moreover, Luis and David will work in an alarm and water sensor for the water tank above the rooms… Crew 187 is working to help with it! We know the annoying that is for a Martian to wait if the water tank is leak or not.

Anomalies in work:

The charger of the Astronomer’s laptop is not working well. More details will be explained in the Astronomer Report.

About The MDRS

The Mars Desert Research Station in the Utah desert was established by the Mars Society in 2001 to better educate researchers, students and the general public about how humans can survive on the Red Planet. It is the second Mars analogue habitat after the Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station was established in 2000.

Over 181 crews of six-person teams have lived in two week field visits at MDRS to simulate life on the Martian surface. Researchers and students alike have explored the Mars-like terrain in the area surrounding the station in full “spacesuits”, maintained the station’s systems, grown plants in the GreenHab to support themselves and even recycled their waste water.

Our activities at MDRS are not only about informing the public, but also conducting real research to bring humanity that much closer to the reality of human exploration on the planet Mars.

Annual field seasons at MDRS run approx. October through May. Anybody can apply to be on a crew, and we also need volunteers to help with the project.